Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XII 29 September 2016
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Ionia, Achaemenid Period AR Tetrobol. Spithridates, Satrap of Lydia and Ionia, under Darius III. 335-334 BC. Head of satrap left, wearing Persian headdress / Forepart of Pegasos right, ΣΠI - ΘPI behind and below. BMC 18. Traité II 2, pl. LXXXIX, 1-3. L. Mildenberg, Vestigia Leonis, p. 9, pl. III, 26. W. Wroth, NC (1900), pp. 289-90, no. 23. H.A. Cahn, Revue des etudes anciennes 91 (1989), pp. 97-105. C. Harrison in: Oikistes. Studies in Honor of A.J. Graham (Leiden, 2002), pp. 301-319. J. Bodzek, Israel Numismatic Review 3 (2008), pp. 4-6. 3.04g, 15mm, 7h.
Good Very Fine. Extremely rare portrait of the satrap Spithridates.
Spithridates acted as a satrap of Lydia and Ionia under the rein of King Darios II. He participated as a commander for the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the first significant battle between Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire. During this battle, Spithridates spotted an opportunity to strike Alexander. Arrian (I. 15) narrates as follows: "Alexander's spear being shattered in the conflict, he asked Aretis, one of the royal guards, whose duty it was to assist the king to mount his horse, for another spear. But this man's spear had also been broken whilst he was in the thickest of the struggle, and he was conspicuous fighting with the half of his broken spear. Showing this to Alexander, he bade him ask some one else for one. Then Demaratos, a man of Corinth, one of his personal Companions, gave him his own spear; which he had no sooner taken than seeing Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darios, riding far in front of the others, and leading with him a body of cavalry arranged like a wedge, he rode on in front of the others, and hitting at the face of Mithridates with his spear, struck him to the ground. But hereupon, Rhoesaces rode up to Alexander and struck at his head with his sword, but though it shore off a piece of his helmet, the helmet broke the force of the blow. This man too Alexander struck to the ground, striking him in the chest through the breastplate with his lance. And now Spithridates from behind had already raised aloft his sword against the king, when Kleitos, son of Dropidas, anticipated his blow, and hitting him on the arm, cut it off, sword and all."
If not for the intervention of Kleitos that day, history would have taken a very different course. Alexander's invasion of Persia would have been a dismal failure, cut short just days after crossing the Hellespont. Tens of thousands of Greek and Macedonian soldiers would have been left leaderless in Asia Minor, and the Hellenisation of the East would almost certainly never have come to pass.
Good Very Fine. Extremely rare portrait of the satrap Spithridates.
Spithridates acted as a satrap of Lydia and Ionia under the rein of King Darios II. He participated as a commander for the Persian forces at the Battle of Granicus in 334 BC, the first significant battle between Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire. During this battle, Spithridates spotted an opportunity to strike Alexander. Arrian (I. 15) narrates as follows: "Alexander's spear being shattered in the conflict, he asked Aretis, one of the royal guards, whose duty it was to assist the king to mount his horse, for another spear. But this man's spear had also been broken whilst he was in the thickest of the struggle, and he was conspicuous fighting with the half of his broken spear. Showing this to Alexander, he bade him ask some one else for one. Then Demaratos, a man of Corinth, one of his personal Companions, gave him his own spear; which he had no sooner taken than seeing Mithridates, the son-in-law of Darios, riding far in front of the others, and leading with him a body of cavalry arranged like a wedge, he rode on in front of the others, and hitting at the face of Mithridates with his spear, struck him to the ground. But hereupon, Rhoesaces rode up to Alexander and struck at his head with his sword, but though it shore off a piece of his helmet, the helmet broke the force of the blow. This man too Alexander struck to the ground, striking him in the chest through the breastplate with his lance. And now Spithridates from behind had already raised aloft his sword against the king, when Kleitos, son of Dropidas, anticipated his blow, and hitting him on the arm, cut it off, sword and all."
If not for the intervention of Kleitos that day, history would have taken a very different course. Alexander's invasion of Persia would have been a dismal failure, cut short just days after crossing the Hellespont. Tens of thousands of Greek and Macedonian soldiers would have been left leaderless in Asia Minor, and the Hellenisation of the East would almost certainly never have come to pass.